


Unexpected Results

by meyari



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe, Asexuality, Multi, Other, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-02
Updated: 2011-04-02
Packaged: 2017-10-17 11:51:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/176583
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce had no idea how an asexual ended up with a huge family but somehow over the years he'd gathered one that worked relatively well given how flawed they all were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpected Results

He had never intended to create a family.

When his parents died, all Bruce had cared about was that they were gone and he was still there. He was alone, eternally alone. Certainly Alfred was there, quiet, loving, attentive Alfred who had admitted when Bruce was five that he had never quite understood what all the fuss with sex was about. In Alfred's words it was 'a messy business, but one which seems to bring much joy to others'.

At five those words had made total sense to Bruce.

At seventeen they still made sense and all the effort that the people around him put into creating families made no sense whatsoever. Deciding how many to have in your family (three, four, five, plus the endless debates on how many children to have), dating, relationships, balancing your boyfriend with your girlfriend and then with her other boyfriend had never been worth the effort.

He already knew better than to answer 'yes' when people asked 'what are you, asexual?' That never went well even though Bruce knew that he was.

They always made those faces, the ones where they were thinking 'oh shit, his parents' death ruined him!' or 'always was a freak', depending on who it was. The teachers would scold whoever asked and there would be special classes for everyone on understanding different orientations with special attention given to those odd ones who wanted just one other person, or perhaps, maybe, no one at all if the teachers had time for it, given that monogamy always spawned huge sprawling discussions that frequently turned into horror stories about how monogamy twisted people's minds and destroyed children who grew up in 'those' families.

So Bruce had learned early on to look down his nose at people and insist that he was monogamous, that he would only date one person at a time and that he expected the same from his partner. It was the fastest way to get people to back off, especially when Bruce explained that his parents had been monogamous and that was what he was most comfortable with. No one wanted to deal with the baggage of his murdered parents.

It gave him much more time for training, anyway.

By the time he was finishing college (two years earlier than his peers), Bruce had learned a dozen ways to discretely discourage people's attention. Casual encounters at bars that left him apparently too drunk to perform were excellent. Stating that he simply didn't like brunettes, males, females, redheads, people taller than him, shorter than him, are you sure you want to eat that? You're rather… plump.

The lack of friends allowed him to spend more time studying lock picking, martial arts and wire tapping, which was what he really needed.

Ra's had seemed to understand Bruce when they'd encountered one another in Tibet but the time spent with the League had made it clear that while Ra's himself might (possibly) be asexual, his men were most certainly not. Bruce wondered some nights whether his lack of sexual interest was the real reason that Ra's had chosen him as his heir, over his skills and mind. He wasn't sure, even years later.

It didn't really matter. Bruce had his mission (and Alfred) and that was enough. The starlets were happy with the publicity involved with dating Bruce Wayne and rarely made a fuss about his lack of interest in joining them in bed. Offering the excuse that he liked watching best of all was one of the best disguises yet. At least they generally went away happy, rather than annoyed at him. His life worked well, his mission was progressing as he wanted it to, and Gotham would be saved from the crime rotting it from within.

Then he accepted tickets to the circus and watched a young boy lose his parents as Bruce had so many years ago.

Dick changed everything. He was the exact opposite of Bruce: bright, cheerful, tactile, loving and openly accepting of anything and everyone. His enthusiastic hugs filled a need that Bruce hadn't admitted that he felt. Holding Dick truly made Bruce's dark existence lighter, especially once Dick became Robin and patrolled at his side.

After Dick came Clark, the infuriating alien who quite literally had no idea what the fuss was about sex. He'd tried it and enjoyed it well enough but it held little interest for him beyond making his partners happy. Clark invaded Bruce's life as thoroughly as Dick had, refusing to budge no matter how Bruce growled or yelled at him.

When Bruce encountered Jason, he had been filled with admiration for the boy's sheer survival instinct. Dick had struck out on his own by that point, choosing a new name and suit. Jason coming to the manor had shifted the dynamics of his life quite dramatically. Bruce wasn't sure why he'd been surprised to find Jason pinned against the wall beneath Dick's too bright uniform, the two of them kissing so urgently that they literally didn't notice him standing there. Neither Jason nor Dick was like him and the tension between them was so overwhelming that something had to happen eventually.

Alfred just clucked his tongue and made sure that the boys had ample supplies of condoms and lube.

Then the Joker killed Jason and it was as if another hole had been ripped in his heart. Dick stopped visiting for long periods but Clark was there every night, curling up in Bruce's bed with him. They only held each other. Clark's hand felt good as it rubbed Bruce's back. By the time Dick decided that Kory was wonderful but her monogamous ideals were too weird, Tim had become Robin and he was nearly a copy of the younger Bruce.

Though the way Tim watched Dick during his visits was nothing at all like Bruce when he was young.

Dick and Tim predictably became lovers, though Dick frequently teased Tim that they were brothers. Bruce thought that it was just to see the way Tim blushed. Then Tim was dating Stephanie and another girl at school, though the two of them don't get along at all. Dick wasn't that fond of the other girl but he adored Stephanie who rather to everyone's dismay got pregnant.

Bruce insisted that she move into the Manor so that they can take care of the baby that even the news media was calling the Wayne grandbaby. No one cared who fathered little Jenny once she was born. They were all too happy to have her there. Dick made Jenny laugh as hard as Stephanie. Tim rocked her to sleep every night. Steph was back in fighting form so quickly that it seemed like she never had a child at all. Clark doted on Jenny, and fed her every chance he could get. Even Bruce enjoyed holding her milk-scented little form.

He let Alfred or Tim deal with the diapers.

Jason's return threw Bruce so badly that he could barely think. He had no idea how Jason had returned to life but he could see Ra's' influence in every move that Jason made. It took all of them working together to pin Jason and bring him home. Bruce thought he was one rib shy of flail chest by the time they got Jason back to the Cave.

Dick tried to reason with Jason. Steph yelled. Clark cried. Alfred brought food that was flung against the wall or back into his face. Bruce listened to Jason rage. He didn't open the door to Jason's cell, waiting patiently for Jason to calm enough that they could talk.

In the end it was Tim who found the right words to get through to Jason.

Bruce didn't know what those words were. He hadn't been close enough the night when Tim finally stood with his hand on the Plexiglas wall keeping Jason in. He could see Tim whispering something that made him look like his heart had been ripped out. Jason shouted obscenities, cursed Tim out, and then screamed as tears stream down his cheeks. His hands ended up exactly where Tim's hands were pressed. His forehead rested against Tim's, only the Plexiglas separating them. Slipping away, Bruce left them alone.

He knew better than to mess with something like this. He never has understood how rage could be attraction in disguise or how grief could become love.

When Tim came out hours later, he had Jason's hand in his hand. There were several hickies on his neck and Jason was much calmer, though still quite twitchy. Bruce stood, waiting as his boys approached together. Alfred stood behind him, calm and quiet. Clark swooped into the Cave, making Jason start and then growl. Dick was there, holding Jenny. Steph had brought Roy to the Cave. It didn't bother Bruce. If he were reading things correctly Roy and his daughter would be joining the family sometime soon. It would be good for Jenny to have a sister and Lian already loved Jenny as if they were blood sisters.

Jason's eyes were haunted as he stared into Bruce's eyes. He used to be shorter than Bruce. Now they were the same height. Bruce cautiously reached out and ran fingers that wouldn't stop shaking over Jason's cheek. From the look in Jason's eyes, he was afraid he'll be turned away or locked up again. Tim's knuckles were white from the intensity of his grip on Jason's hand.

'Welcome home,' was all that Bruce could say before his voice broke and he had to pull Jason into his arms.

It was as though something broke inside of Jason. At first he was stiff and resisting but suddenly they were clinging to each other in exactly the ways they never did when he first adopted Jason. The broken, wary boy that had stolen the Batmobile's tires had been as uncomfortable with touching as Bruce was, though for very different reasons.

The hug broke some sort of deadlock. Everyone, from Alfred on down to Jenny and Lian, was suddenly hugging Jason. After a moment Bruce had to pull back. He held Jenny because she was far too small to be allowed to crawl around the Cave. Jason never admitted to the tears, no matter how Dick teased him later. Most mornings after that Bruce found Jason sleeping between Tim and Stephanie. Sometimes it was Tim and Roy or Tim and Dick. Occasionally, Lian brought Jenny and they slept with Clark and Bruce. He knew that everyone would be together in the same bed, tangled in a heap of naked limbs that filled Bruce with fondness but no want.

Alfred usually made chocolate chip pancakes for the girls when that happened.

Then Damian arrived and bristled at the others being considered family. Dick became very much like a father to him, giving Damian the same brightness and cheer that Bruce had needed so badly when they first met. Damian never said thank you but he showed it in tiny ways. The others knew not to hug Damian but Jenny climbed into his lap with total abandon, hugging him as if he were her personal teddy bear.

Damian let her, only making the little 'tch' of mock annoyance that Bruce knew far too well from his youth.

It was a family, a sprawling, complicated, ever-shifting, ever-changing family the likes of which Bruce never wanted and never understood. They fought and fucked and trained and made Gotham a better place despite criminals and the way they sometimes rubbed each other's emotions raw.

Bruce had never intended to build a family but he was very grateful that one built itself around him anyway.


End file.
